9781422287187

11

Distant Beginnings

LARRY PAGE Larry Page was born in 1973, eight years after his father became one of the first people to earn a Ph.D. in computer science. Computer scientists study how a computer works and know how to tell a computer what to do. The way they do this is through special codes known as computer languages. Carl Page, Larry’s father, was known as a computer expert before Larry was even born. Gloria, Larry’s mother, was also interested in computers. She and her husband taught computer science classes at Michigan State University. Their interests greatly influenced young Larry, who started playing with computers at the age of six. He wanted to learn everything he could about computers. According to Larry, the house he grew up in “was usually a mess, with computers and Popular Science magazines all over the place.” Various electronics scattered around the house provided an endless playground for the tech-savvy youngster. Larry earned quite a reputation for his use of technology while he was in grade school. “I think I was the first kid in my elementary school to turn in a word-processed document,” he said in an interview. Word processors are computer programs that help people write essays or other written projects. Documents written on the computer can be easily changed. This was a huge improvement over the typewriter, which uses permanent ink. One of the reasons Larry was so ahead of his time is because the education he received was not typical. He went to the Montessori Radmoor School in Okemos, Michigan. This school allowed students to learn at their own pace and included many different age groups in one classroom. Larry was allowed to be creative and choose what he wanted to do, which helped him develop his strengths. Larry learned early on that the best way to understand how something works is to take it apart and examine it himself. “My brother taught me how to take things apart, and I took apart everything in the house,” he